The Way We Are
by unoriginalrhombus
Summary: The five times that Arizona Robbins unconsciously knew Calliope Torres was her soul mate and the one time she didn't . Also, it's a song fic. It's pretty much a FLUFF party


**Disclaimer: **I own nothing it's all the property of Shonda and ABC. I don't even own the songs.

**A/N:** In case some of you are wondering, this is a re-post from Livejournal. To be quite frank, it's much easier for me to keep track of all the things I've worked on if I switch it over here. Also, it encourages me to finish things like (*cough* Love Today *cough*) amongst other things. Anyway, to those of you who are re-reading this story, thank you. And to those of you who are reading this for the first time, enjoy! :)

I.

_Now I'm twisted up when I'm twisted with you_

_Brush so lightly_

_And time trickles down, and I'm breathing for two_

_Squeeze so tightly_

_I'll be fine, you'll be fine_

_This moment seems so long_

_Don't waste new, precious time_

_We'll dance inside the song_

Everything was bright. Bright and comforting with its warmth. The clouds were crisply clear, the colors were basically jumping out of objects; there were things that only existed in fables, and there was a sense of calm that surrounded the area. This is what some could call heaven, and yet, Arizona was irritated. She was preoccupied trying to catch a unicorn with her rainbow lasso and this bee just kept buzzing by her head. To be honest, it was extremely annoying and it was destroying her usually stealthy demeanor.

Who the hell wanted to pay attention to a bee with its obnoxious buzzing sound when you have a freaking unicorn a few feet away?

An insane person, that's who.

And Arizona was completely sane. Although, on occasion she tended to frighten people with her unusually bright personality and…she was getting sidetracked. The point was that she didn't want to pay attention to the bee, so she swatted it away and tried focusing on the unicorn again.

But the stupid bee seemed to have it out for her because it didn't stop. In fact, the bee only seemed to get louder the more she swatted at it, until finally it looked like Arizona was going to lose the battle of Bee VS Man…well, woman.

In a last ditch effort to come away with something—because it was a freaking unicorn, she needed something to remember it by, duh—she gathered all of her focus, swung her rainbow lasso over her head and timed her release to perfection. Her lasso was getting closer, closer, and clo—when did she get on the floor?

"Umph," Arizona mumbled as she realized that she was indeed on the floor.

Arizona stood up and allowed her eyes to adjust to Calliope's somewhat familiar room. Regardless of the fact that Arizona had practically lived in this room for the past few weeks, it still took her by surprise—and a somewhat defeated exterior—when she realized that there really wasn't a unicorn anywhere in sight. Instead, there was an overabundance of clothes and other odd things scattered around the room. For such a kept up girl, Calliope had a pretty messy room. If she wasn't so caught up in finding it endearing, she would actually be bothered by the fact that she almost always tripped over something in Calliope's room.

She snuck a glance towards the brunette who happened to be snoring lightly, her hair fanned out against the pillow, and her arm wrapped securely around a bundle of blankets. Arizona smiled at the picture in front of her.

It was kind of ironic that after all the things she put Calliope through, Arizona still fell so fast and so hard. But in her defense, it was kind of hard not to. If you took away the materialistic things like Calliope's gorgeous looks or you know, her man-whore and his underage lover—that's what Arizona had taken to calling them in her head, it made for good commentary—and just looked at the person that Calliope was, then you were still blown away.

Okay, maybe it was different that she wasn't quite as perky as Arizona, but she could live with that. In fact, it was probably better. Opposites bring out the best in each other, or at least that's what her fortune cookie said the other day. All Arizona really knew was that she was happy and that was something she hadn't totally been in a long time.

She smiled and started to inch her way back towards the bed when she heard that damn buzzing again. Arizona froze and looked around, it didn't make sense. She was almost certain that the bee didn't really exist; she knew for a fact that it wasn't her pager, and she always turned off her phone before bed.

Arizona jerked her head in the direction of Calliope's night stand when she heard the buzzing again. Of course, she had turned off her phone before bed but apparently Callie had forgotten. Arizona shook her head fondly and walked over to Calliope's dresser. She reached out her hand and grabbed the phone, opening and closing Callie's Razr with little grace. She set the phone to silent and immediately ignored the next call coming in—just for the hell of it—and walked somewhat triumphantly back to her side of the bed.

Was it necessary that she ignore the incoming call from Mark? Probably not. Did it make her feel better inside and release some of her disappointment for not being able to catch her unicorn? Most definitely.

Arizona slid into the bed silently and was immediately wrapped in Calliope's embrace. She felt something bubbling beneath the surface as Callie held onto her. It was something that she wasn't quite ready to put a name to, but something that made her feel elated nonetheless.

"That's been bugging me for hours."

Arizona felt warm breath on her neck and resisted the urge to shiver. She frowned at the realization of what she just heard. Arizona pulled away to look into the amused eyes of her girlfriend.

"You were awake this whole time?"

Callie grinned sheepishly, "Maybe."

Arizona frowned. "So, you just let me fall out of bed instead of turning it off yourself?"

"Actually," Callie began as she began rubbing small circles on Arizona's stomach, "I kind of pushed you."

Arizona looked aghast, a retort edging its way on to the tip of her tongue, and her thoughts were consumed with the idea of revenge. She was so close to taking away Calliope's current cuddles when she glanced down to their bodies. It was remarkable to see, because it was honestly hard to tell where she ended and where Calliope began. Their legs were tangled together, their skin was pressed tight and flushed against one another, and their bodies just seemed to fit so well that Arizona suddenly wasn't so concerned with the idea of revenge anymore.

She sighed contently and looked into Callie's already half lidded eyes. She smiled and wrapped her arms tighter around Callie, the feeling of sleep starting to envelope her. Their breathing slowed down to an almost whisper and they started matching each other, breath for breath, and suddenly Arizona was just more content to live in the moment.

"I can live with that."

II.

_There's a part of you that wants to fight_

_But I never really had the appetite_

_I fear my feelings wont speak_

_words are already taken upon the breeze_

_wind is always blowing_

"So," Callie huffed into stale air, throwing glances Arizona's way.

"So…" Arizona echoed.

"This is awkward, huh?"

Arizona really didn't plan on saying anything; after all, she had had worst dates before. So this wasn't even the worst. The air was thick with tension even though they were both sitting on the couch. It'd been this way since Arizona arrived. It's like, for some odd reason Calliope forgot how to have a date and Arizona forgot how to act on one; maybe it was all the doctor work. That could really kill your ability at having a social life.

Who was she kidding? Arizona wasn't even trying to make this night better. In fact, she had already planned for it to fail. It wasn't anything against Calliope—because she seemed like a really sweet girl—it was just that Arizona had already done this song and dance before, with 'gay for a day' girls, and she was a little bit tired of it.

So, she hadn't really planned on saying anything, but Calliope was glancing at her with big brown eyes and she looked so damn nice in her purple shirt that Arizona decided maybe she should take some pity on the girl. Maybe she shouldn't have judged her so harshly. So yeah, Calliope was friends with a man-whore, but unusual things happen in the universe all the time.

"A little bit," Arizona whispered softly.

Calliope stared for a few minutes before a grin spread out onto her features. She stood up quickly and stuck her iPod into the radio, hitting a few buttons until music started to shuffle out of the speakers.

Arizona frowned with a little bit of defiance. She wasn't in the mood for dancing. She had been on her feet all day dealing with an overload of cases and all she really wanted to do was drink wine or eat a pint of ice cream. She just really wasn't in the mood and if Calliope thought that she would get Arizona to 'bust a move' she was totally out of her mind. If not for the sake of her somewhat cool reputation, then for the sake of her own well being, because the last time Arizona had decided to get her groove on while exhausted she had been rewarded with two broken fingers and a concussion.

Calliope started moving her feet cutely, in a little dance walk as she headed towards Arizona. She did a spin when she was directly in front of her and extended her hand till it was inches away from Arizona's face.

"When in fail, dance it out."

"I don't want to dance."

Callie rolled her eyes and pulled Arizona up with her. Everyone says that they don't want to dance, but it was kind of ridiculous because dancing was just moving and Arizona was already doing that. Callie smiled and started bobbing her head and dancing in a circle around Arizona.

"Come on, Blondie. Show me some skills."

Arizona shot Callie a dirty look and crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively. "I don't have any skills."

Callie laughed, "Then show me those."

Arizona watched as the song changed and Callie continued to dance randomly. She hit the cabbage patch, the running man and had barely begun the vogue when Arizona couldn't hold it in anymore and finally started to dance a little bit.

It was actually kind of calming and weirdly fun. All of Arizona's thoughts seemed to just flee from her mind and all that was left was Calliope and her and their movements. Somehow Callie just managed to make all her worries and doubts disappear until all that was left to be done were things that didn't involve thinking. They just involved feeling.

Arizona looked towards Callie amused. It was remarkable just how fast Calliope could make Arizona forget about everything and just make her feel so at ease when she had originally been so sure that this was going to be a monumental waste of her time. Like hugely, monumentally, totally big as those Transformers movies waste of time. It turned out it was actually kind of nice. In fact, this might just end up being the best first date she ever had.

The funny thing is that it already was.

III.

_But I'm ready, yes I'm ready for you_

_I'm standing on my own two feet_

_Out of the doorway the bullets rip, repeating the sound of the beat._

_Another one bites the dust_

Arizona sighed and glanced towards the clock. Her caffeine fix was already wearing off and she still had a good six hours to go in her shift. She had told Callie that the questionably aged coffee girl working at Starbucks didn't truly know the meaning of strong coffee and she had been right. She could already feel the coffee high wearing off and the exhaustion seeping in.

That's the problem with young people these days. They were all about the quick fix, presentation and sugary stuff. They don't pay attention to the particularly important things, like giving Arizona enough caffeine to successfully make it through her twelve hour shift without falling asleep or crying. Or both.

Don't get her wrong, she absolutely loved her job. Regardless of the things she saw, she did enjoy being a fixer of the tiny humans. It was what defined her, and she happened to be damn good at it too. It was just that she had worked the past 11 days straight and she was just so tired. All she really wanted to do was snuggle up in her blankets and drift off into dream land.

Arizona sighed again and grabbed one of the charts in front of her. She wasn't having a particularly long day. In all actuality she probably should have been extremely happy with all the minor cases coming her way. Most were small surgeries or small infections that she could fix in an hour or less, but the sheer amount of them started to pile up, and while she was grateful for the lack of a challenge today, she was also dreading how long it'd take to get through everything.

"Hey, Jackie?"

A nurse with tanned skin, a soft smile, and dark black hair-that was pulled into an almost perfect bun- turned around to face Arizona.

"Yes, Dr. Robbins?"

Arizona grimaced internally. It would never stop being a mixture of cool and awkward to hear someone older than her call her that. "I was wondering if you could do me the huge favor of checking on Jacob Johansson in room 232? Just to make sure he's sleeping alright."

The nurse nodded curtly before giving a small smile, "Of course, Dr. Robbins."

"That's just super. If you need anything, just page me. I'm going to be downstairs in the cafeteria. I saw a sprinkled donut earlier that was _just_ calling my name."

The nurse nodded again before taking the chart from Arizona's hands. Arizona smiled and began to walk away from the nurses' station. She stopped briefly and turned to look at the nurse.

"Oh, and Jackie?" Arizona asked, causing the nurse to meet her gaze. "Call me Arizona."

Arizona turned back around with a grin on her face. Maybe this day wouldn't turn out so bad.

"Hey Blondie," Mark whispered as he sidled up to her. Apparently she had spoken too soon.

Arizona rolled her eyes before smiling at one of the interns who was walking by them. "I told you not to call me that."

"You also told me not to talk to you in public, but here we are anyway."

"What do you want, Mark?" Arizona sighed as she turned the corner briskly, fully intent on getting that donut that she had been talking about earlier.

Mark looked over to her and grinned lazily. He swung his arm over her shoulders and Arizona had to resist the urge to gag at his overuse of cologne.

"Blondie," Mark began as he placed a hand over his heart, "you insult me with such speculation. I thought we were friends."

Arizona snorted. Mark was about the farthest thing she would want in a friend. "What would make you think that?"

"Oh I don't know," Mark shrugged. "Maybe it's the fact that you're dating my best friend."

"We've been on five dates Mark; I wouldn't exactly call that dating. I also wouldn't ever call us friends."

"Ouch."

Arizona sighed and slowed down her pace. She hadn't meant to be that mean, she really hadn't. "I'm sorry, Mark. I didn't mean most of that sentence. I just haven't had very much caffeine today and I'm exhausted."

Mark pulled his arm back but still continued to keep pace with Arizona and she weaved through the crowd of doctors and patients. "It's cool, Blondie. Strange things happen when you're in love."

Arizona chose to ignore his statement and just keep walking. There was no point in giving in to the temptation and smacking Mark; she was a bigger, better person than that.

"Soooo," Mark drawled out. "I was actually wondering if you'd be willing to give some insight that Torres has been unwilling to part with."

Arizona looked over at Mark confused, "What kind of insight?"

Mark shrugged sheepishly. "Oh, you know. What it feels like to be in a relationship, details on the times you've guys have gotten your freak on. Stuff like that."

This time Arizona couldn't hold in the urge that took hold of her. Before she knew it she was extending her arm and smacking Mark straight in the back of the head. It was a lot more satisfying then she had imagined, and believe her; she had imagined it a lot.

"Ouch! What the hell, Blondie?"

Arizona glared, raising her head threateningly. "It's Arizona, I'm not in love with anyone, and gross."

Mark stuck up his hands in defense, "Alright, alright. It was worth a shot."

Arizona was about to respond when she noticed dark hair and tan skin rounding the corner behind Mark, and her mind just suddenly went blank. All the stress disappeared and all Arizona could think about was tan skin, dark eyes, and soft hair. Arizona continued walking as Calliope caught her eye and raised her hand in a slight wave.

She had begun to raise her hand back when she realized that Mark was, in fact, still talking.

"Seriously, Blondie, I think you might want to pay att-"

The rest of Mark's sentence was cut off as Arizona walked smack into a wall. The only things that coherently ran through her mind were the images of Calliope, her donut, the realization that she was indeed falling, her head hitting the ground, and the thought 'did I really just run into a wall?' Also, there was the whole intense pain thing, but who cares about that?

Arizona blinked rapidly as someone pulled her to her feet. Her held felt a little floofy and she was almost certain that she wasn't at Hogwarts, so everyone probably shouldn't be wearing a cape, but she was starting to get the impression she was imagining things. She must have seriously hit her head hard on the ground.

"Arizona! Are you okay?" Calliope asked with concern etched into her features as she scanned Arizona's head for a clear sign of injury.

Arizona smiled goofily, her vision starting to blur. "I am now."

Callie smiled softly and placed a kiss on Arizona's temple. "You're gonna be okay, I promise. I've got you."

Arizona sighed as her vision blurred more, Callie now looking more like a foreign angel then an actual person. "Yeah you do."

The last coherent thing Arizona could remember before she drifted into unconsciousness was Mark mumbling, "Not in love my ass."

IV.

_When you try your best but you don't succeed_

_When you get what you want but not what you need_

_When you feel so tired but you can't sleep_

_Stuck in reverse_

_And the tears come streaming down your face_

_When you lose something you can't replace_

_When you love someone but it goes to waste_

_Could it be worse?_

_Lights will guide you home_

_And ignite your bones_

_And I will try to fix you_

People always assumed that because Arizona was surrounded by death all day that she would be good at dealing with losses, or at least helping others. It was quite the opposite, actually. She may have dealt with death on a daily basis but she still lacked the skills that allowed her to feel comfortable with the whole thing.

In reality, that's all she really was, uncomfortable.

Losing a brother didn't help her gain any skills or knowledge on how to help someone while they were grieving, and working in a hospital didn't do that for her either. In fact, she really felt much better about avoiding the whole thing and just pretending that death didn't exist and that death couldn't affect them. That's why she was all sunshine and rainbows; it was easier to face life's daily challenges when you have a spirit that refuses to let it be defeated.

This, this was something Arizona wasn't prepared for, and this was something Arizona couldn't ignore.

It was oddly fitting that whenever faced with death, Arizona had a lack of understanding on how to continue. It wasn't that she didn't really know what to do when someone died. It was more so that she didn't know how to comfort someone and that she didn't feel comfortable doing it. It made her heart beat faster, she started to sweat, and she felt like the walls were closing in. She just didn't know how to fix death, how to fix those people.

But this was Calliope who was crying.

This was Calliope who was looking at her to be the strong one again, and for the first time, Arizona thought she might fail. She wasn't good at accepting loss and she wasn't really sure how she could help Calliope when she could barely help herself.

But this was Calliope and she just had to try.

So she took a deep breath and ignored the yells in her ear that were telling her to turn back. To not go into the bathroom, to run out of the bedroom, run out of the apartment and just never look back. There was something different about Callie and Arizona would be damned if she prevented herself from finding out what.

She steeled her shoulders, took a deep breath, and opened the bathroom door to the sight of a disheveled looking Callie that was curled into a ball. It wasn't like Arizona automatically knew what to do or what to say, in fact, she was pretty sure she had no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she let instinct take over and that her instinct was what was allowing her to lie down next to Callie, her instinct wrapped her arms around the brunette, and her instinct decided that she didn't have to say anything.

It was instinct that told her that she didn't need to try and fix anything, she just needed to be there.

"I miss him," Callie whispered, tears flowing from her eyes into Arizona's white cotton shirt.

Arizona pulled Callie closer. "I know."

Callie stayed silent for a few minutes, sobs dying down when her voice couldn't handle the tears anymore. "Arizona?" she called out hoarsely.

"Yes, Calliope?"

Callie sniffled and burrowed herself deeper into Arizona's chest. "What if I'm broken?"

Arizona stared at the extremely white ceiling as Callie's words filled the air and she continued to stare at it for a few minutes. She always thought it was strange that people would paint ceilings white, what an unusual color. Wouldn't someone rather have something that was more fitting? Maybe it wasn't a matter of what looked better and instead a matter of what could be more constant. At the end of the day, white would win every time.

Arizona sighed and began rubbing soothing circles on Callie's back, just trying to get the girl's crying to subside.

"Then," Arizona began softly, momentarily stopping in her ministrations, "then I'll try to fix you."

V.

_She loves to laugh_

_She loves to sing_

_She does everything_

_She loves to move_

_She loves to groove_

_She loves the lovin' things_

_She said, "Any way you want it_

_That's the way you need it_

_Any way you want it"_

Arizona hated Scrabble.

Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, and maybe this was kind of her idea. Still, she didn't think it was fair that the person who had come up with the whole idea for this couples night was losing this bad.

In her mind, couples night sounded like a good idea.

She had pestered Calliope for days about a couples night. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner; she was relentless with her methods. She even threatened to hold out as a means to get Calliope on board—there wasn't any actual motivation behind it and she wasn't planning on doing it—and her bluff had worked.

She was actually extremely excited about this night because she was such a social person by nature. Anyway, the point is that Arizona had been looking forward to this night. After all, when do a group of doctors from Seattle Grace—with a buttload of problems and grey days—get together to have a night of fun?

Never, that's when.

So she had been excited for this whole shindig. But three hours, a half bottle of vodka, and 2 couples later, she was just extremely angry. Scrabble had been her choice, so why were her and Calliope in last place? Especially against Mark and Lexie who barely even qualified as a couple. They didn't even have matching jewelry, it was ridiculous.

Arizona huffed as she spelled another three letter word. She quickly downed the shot of tequila Cristina handed her and tried not to gag as it burned down her throat. Calliope, however, took her alcohol in stride and barely grimaced as the shot traveled down her throat.

Cristina glanced between the board and her letters, a slow malicious grin finding its way to her lips. Arizona felt her stomach drop. Cristina's grin definitely didn't mean good things. In fact, she couldn't think of a time when they had ever really meant good things.

Cristina glared at Arizona, grabbing her letters and forming them onto a word on the board. The groups gaze followed Cristina's newly spelled word, letting each letter sink in and bury itself underneath their hazy minds. Arizona shifted her attention from the board to Cristina's partner in crime, hoping secretly that they couldn't come through with a word.

Of course that hope was crushed.

Arizona groaned as she saw Meredith place a word right in front of Cristina's, allowing them to get triple points and further their lead on everyone else.

"Does anyone else think it's unfair that Meredith and Cristina get to participate? I mean, they're not even an actual couple." Lexie muttered, her gaze shifting from one object of the room to another rather quickly.

Cristina raised an eyebrow. "We're more of a couple then you and man-baby."

Callie smacked Mark's arm lightly, his mouth slowly opening to form a protest. He glared at Callie who just shrugged innocently.

"I resent that statement and I stand by my argument," Lexie stated indignantly.

Meredith tilted her head to the side, regarding Lexie. "You guys are just upset 'cause we're kicking your ass at Scrabble."

Arizona hummed in agreement. Just because she wasn't happy didn't mean it wasn't true.

Lexie took a swig of her beer, confidence brewing underneath her normally submissive exterior. "Yeah, well, excuse me for believing that couples night applied only to couples, and that the word bitch shouldn't be allowed."

Meredith shrugged. "She had the letters."

Cristina nodded in agreement and Lexie took another swig of her beer. "And angsty?"

Cristina grinned at Meredith, curling her hand into a fist and placing it in front of Meredith. "That was a good one."

Meredith copied Cristina's action, bumping Cristina's fist quickly. "Yeah it was."

"This is ridiculous," Lexie huffed.

Arizona was inclined to agree with almost all of what Lexie was saying. She did in fact think it was ridiculous that Cristina and Meredith used the phrase 'angsty bitches', and were still given points. But she wasn't upset over them being regarded as a couple. They had saved her night by saying yes to Calliope's invitation, so without them she wouldn't have had a chance at couples night.

Arizona was only really upset over the fact that she was losing, and that she was losing badly.

Separate from the alcohol thing—that was Meredith's idea—where each person who couldn't come up with anything longer than a three letter word is required to take a shot. It was her house, her plans, her ideas, and she was determined to make it a fun night.

But now she was losing and her mind was all fuzzy. Arizona sighed and glanced at Callie, at least she looked like she was having fun. Apparently Calliope wasn't much of a sore loser.

Mark shifted in his chair, his sentence directed at Callie. "It is kind of ridiculous."

"You think everything is ridiculous when you're losing."

"Not true, I only think that over the things that are actually worth thinking that over," Mark said defensively.

Callie sighed. "I think you've had too much alcohol, Mark. You're talking in circles, it's kind of ridiculous."

"You're talking in so many circles, it's ridiculous." Mark quipped.

Arizona had to hold back a laugh as Callie rolled her eyes playfully. "Fine, then I think it's ridiculous that you think this," Callie pointed to Mark and Lexie's obviously second place score, "is ridiculous."

"Yeah, well, I think its ridicu—"

"You guys are not a couple. Therefore, I vote you be disqualified!" Lexie interrupted, her finger pointing at an amused Meredith and nonchalant Cristina, and her face reddening from the alcohol.

Cristina looked over at Arizona who just shrugged in a silent agreement, to Callie—who honestly just looked amused at how the whole night was turning out—to an already gone Mark who was dancing to some imaginary song in his head, before rolling her eyes.

"Fuck it."

Cristina shifted her body to her right so that she was facing Meredith. She pulled Meredith's body so that they were face to face, placed her hand behind Meredith's neck, and abruptly pulled her into a rough kiss. Besides the initial shock, Meredith settled rather quickly into the kiss, moving her lips in a sort of dance against Cristina's.

Arizona blinked profusely, not quite believing what she saw. Callie's mouth dropped open in shock. Lexie looked mildly interested before placing her hands over Mark's eyes, who looked way too excited at the image.

After what felt like forever—and Arizona would argue that it was indeed forever—Cristina and Meredith sprung apart. Callie closed her mouth, Arizona continued to blink profusely, and Lexie removed her hands from Mark's face.

"For tonight we are. Any questions Little Grey?" Cristina tilted her head to the side seriously.

Lexie shook her head. "Uh-no. No, that sounds…reasonable. I don't really even like Scrabble anyway."

"Then why are did you get so upset?" Arizona questioned curiously, her blinking now under control.

"I just wanted to beat Cristina at something."

Arizona grinned. "Hey, me too!"

"Really?"

Arizona nodded in response, ignoring Cristina's eye roll.

Lexie raised her hand, leaning slightly over the table where Scrabble was momentarily forgotten. "High-five?"

Arizona didn't respond, she just raised her hand to meet Lexie's, her brain starting to feel the effect of the shots.

Callie smiled as Lexie and Arizona began to giggle, completely ignoring the pokes in her side until a particularly hard jab grabbed her attention. "What the hell, Mark?"

Mark grinned sheepishly. "You hate Scrabble."

"Yeah, well, Arizona doesn't. So I can love it, I can love everything." Callie whispered, trying not to gather attention from anyone else. Although she wasn't sure how she could, everyone was pretty gone at this point. Meredith was glancing at Cristina weird, Cristina was looking at her letters intensely, Lexie and Arizona were giggling over the word aloof and Callie was trying very hard to keep her focus on the almost empty bottle of tequila.

"Look at you compromising, how adult."

"Will you two princesses stop whispering over there? Come get your asses handed to you on a silver platter." Cristina yelled, her hands rubbing together in glee over the idea.

Arizona frowned. "Calliope, we don't own any silver platters."

Callie opened her arms. "I know, just come over here, baby."

Arizona grinned excitedly and let Callie's arms encircle her quickly. Her body was starting to feel heavy from all the alcohol. She was faintly aware of whispering surrounding her and movement being made towards the Scrabble table, but Arizona stayed put.

"Whatever Torres, I don't care if Blondie is passed out in your lap or not, you're gonna play this game. I'm not drunk enough to not care about winning." Cristina stated clearly.

Arizona opened her eyes, against the screaming in her mind that was telling her to keep them closed. She grudgingly pulled away from Callie and placed herself back into her previous seat. "Calliope?"

Callie glanced at Arizona and smiled. "Yes?"

Arizona looked over at a smug looking Cristina and put on her game face, which could also be confused for her surgery face, but whatever. They were both serious.

"Let's kick Cristina's ass."

"Any way you want it, baby." Callie smiled, popping her fingers as a means to get her prepared. Arizona couldn't have been happier with Callie's response. Anyone else wouldn't have been so willing at her statement, or even so willing to have a couple's night with BOTH the couples currently in their presence. They would have cringed at the mention of Scrabble, Meredith, and alcohol—Bailey had done just so—but not Callie. She took it like a champ and just so willingly—okay, maybe it was after a lot of pestering, but Callie still did it—compromised and went along with Arizona's ridiculous plans.

It was an imperfect kind of thing, what they had together. Things definitely weren't super easy and Arizona still worried too much sometimes about Callie's questioning sexuality. Arizona refused to say it wasn't questioning because Callie had yet to define herself, and even though Arizona was against labels, she was kind of hoping Callie would just settle on one for once. They argued over ridiculous things like Arizona being a cover hog or Callie snoring so freaking loudly. They fought over who drank all the coffee and who was being an idiot. Sometimes, Arizona was afraid of losing it all. Sometimes Arizona was afraid of the way things could so quickly change. But for now, she was certain that she wouldn't trade any of it, not even if someone was offering her a brand new pair of light up roller sneaks.

All in all, it was so imperfectly perfect that Arizona almost couldn't care less if they won tonight, almost.

She just really wanted to kick Cristina and Meredith's ass.

VI.

_I need another story_

_Something to get off my chest_

_My life gets kinda boring_

_Need something that I can confess_

_Till all my sleeves are stained red_

_From all the truth that I've said_

_Come by it honestly I swear_

_Thought you saw me wink, no, I've been on the brink, so_

_Tell me what you want to hear_

_Something that'll like those ears_

_Sick of all the insincere_

_So I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

_This time_

_Don't need another perfect lie_

_Don't care if critics never jump in line_

_I'm gonna give all my secrets away_

Arizona suppressed a shudder as she unlocked the door to her apartment. Well, the apartment she shared with Callie. It was practically the same thing, right?

Either way, Arizona had to suppress a shudder because the temperature from the hallway to the apartment shifted dramatically. It was like walking from a sauna to an icebox, the temperature change was that drastic. If Arizona was the type to worry about these things, she would have paid extra attention to how the apartment seemed to be a bit more frigid then usual. But Arizona was definitely not the type to worry.

Well, at least not all the time.

Arizona shook away her thoughts and began to hum the beginning bars to Walking on Sunshine before trailing off into silence.

Not just because she wasn't as gifted at remembering song lyrics as others were—although, that was true—but because Callie was sitting on the couch staring at either Arizona or the space behind her with this unreadable, indefinable expression. She was secretly hoping the expression was for some creepy serial killer, who was wielding dangerous weapons whilst lurking behind her. But that was more ridiculous then the childhood obsession she had with Sesame Street. In her defense, the Cookie Monster was rad.

Arizona smiled widely, shutting the door behind her with a simple nudge of the back of her hand. She didn't bother turning around, she was too focused on the way Calliope's eyes were trained on her. In all the years they had been together Arizona had never seen such a look.

She immediately wanted to panic.

But panicking didn't feel like a good plan of action, so instead she put on a brave face to match her smile and tried to make her voice as cheery as possible.

"Hey."

Callie's gaze hardened and Arizona immediately felt like she had said the wrong thing.

"I mean…yo?" Arizona said, trying to get a smile out of Callie.

Callie instead broke her eye contact to pick at something on her leg, completely ignoring Arizona and her look of confusion. At least she was making an effort to figure out what was wrong with Callie; the least the Latina could do was cooperate.

"Okay. Well…I'll go shower I guess." Arizona nodded curtly and started making her way across the living room, eager on reaching the shower before something terrible happened. She didn't quite know what was going on but she had this feeling that it wasn't going to be good.

She had barely reached the bedroom door when she heard it. It was barely a whisper, but there was no mistaking it. Arizona felt her heart drop as the terrible words floated around her ears, burying themselves deep inside, planting roots of despair.

Arizona turned around slowly, wanting to make sure—for her own sake—that she was hearing things. "What?"

Callie never turned around, choosing instead to face the door Arizona was standing in front of only moments before. "Joanne called. You forgot your cell phone at lunch and she wanted to know when it was a good time to return it to you."

Arizona closed her eyes on instinct because she knew it didn't look good. She heard the creak in the floorboards and the shift in the couch as Callie got up. She heard the shallow breathing and felt the air thicken, she felt her heart pound harder and faster with every second and she just knew she had to explain. She opened her eyes quickly and tried to meet Callie's gaze.

"Calliope let me explain." Her voice had sounded rawer then she had expected and Arizona hoped Callie could hear the pleading in her voice.

Callie shook her head and raised her hand to case Arizona's words. "I told her that she had to be mistaken, because my Arizona had told me she was at a consultation for a patient, and she wouldn't lie to me."

Arizona opened her mouth to try and speak, only to have Callie silence her with her eyes.

"Imagine my surprise," Callie continued softly, "when she told me that this lunch date had been planned for weeks. And that isn't the half of it. Apparently it was with your mother as well as your ex-girlfriend." Callie nearly spat out the last few words, her face a mixture of anger, confusion, and jealousy.

Arizona opened and closed her mouth before anything actually decided to come out.

"I can explain."

In all actuality, she really could explain it all. She hadn't actually planned for this to happen, not any of it. Arizona was a one woman kind of girl, she hated that Callie could even suspect such a thing from her, but she knew how it looked. She knew it was wrong for her to lie, she knew it was wrong for her to try and cover it up, and she knew it was wrong of her to think she could get away with it.

Things had just been going so well.

So, so well that Arizona didn't want to screw it up. And that's exactly what this whole lunch date thing would have done. Don't get her wrong; Arizona loved her mother like a wonderfully strange kid loved David Bowie. It's just, her mother was a little over bearing at times and when she latched onto someone, she really latched on. Hence: Joanne.

It was a good relationship. Joanne was sweet, great to Arizona's family, and her first love. Arizona had something with Joanne that she felt like she would always have because Joanne helped Arizona discover who she really was. Throughout the years they would have quite the on-and-off relationship before Arizona decided to move to Seattle. Unfortunately, Arizona's mother had been hoping that they would be on again, much to Arizona's dismay.

It wasn't that she didn't love Joanne either; it was just that with each relationship she had with a different person, Arizona realized that they just weren't meant to be. There were just too many wrong things for them to ever be right. They never quite fit the way her and Calliope did, and Arizona wanted to save Callie the lunch of embarrassment. She just wanted to protect her from feeling inadequate compared to someone that her mother treasured because she loved Callie more than anything in the world.

Callie crossed her arms in front of her chest defensively. "I wish I could believe it."

"Do you think so little of me that you think I could actually do something like that?"

Callie's gaze softened and she shifted her focus to the floor.

Arizona sighed. "I know this looks bad, Calliope. But you have to know deep down that I would never do such a thing, not to you, not after everything. Can't you just trust me?"

Callie frowned and bit the corner of her lip. After a few moments of silence, Callie steered her shoulders straight and let her harsh gaze meet Arizona's soft one. "I talked to Mark about it and he agrees that I need to be more aggressive about this. You lied to me, Arizona."

"Mark!" Arizona exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air out of frustration. "Of course you talked to Mark about this."

Callie unfolded her arms. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Is our life so boring that you have to constantly surround yourself with Mark? Not to mention you always inform him of all our problems, I mean, he knows that you're upset before I do!" Arizona half shouted before she even realized what she was saying. Everything was getting out of hand and her original plan to just tell Callie the truth was quickly being overcome by her anger at the mention of Mark.

If he was there and Arizona happened to be in the possession of a fork, she would have stabbed him with it. She was that pissed. He was always there no matter the occasion. He was always in her business, around her girlfriend, and giving that damn smug smile. It was infuriating because Arizona sometimes felt like she was dating two people instead of one.

"He's my best friend Arizona."

Arizona rolled her eyes. "So? Teddy and I are best friends. You don't see us giving each other supportive glances that could be accused for adoring."

Okay, so they weren't actually best friends or anything, but it was only a matter of time.

Callie puffed out her chest. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know that he has no one else, Arizona. He's my best friend."

"I know that, believe me, I do. I get that you guys are best friends; it's just that while you might feel like you're not enough gay for me, I feel like I'm not enough for you all the time. Every time you go to Mark or you tell him something you should be able to just tell me…I panic. You just don't understand Calliope, you have such a big heart that's open and I love that about you, but while it tends to be a good thing, it scares me that as quickly as you fall in love with me, you'll fall out just as quickly."

You ever have one of those moments where you just know that what you have said crossed a line? Like, how all the blood is rushing to your head and you're not thinking clearly, but you know you don't want to be the one losing the argument, so you say all these things that you really shouldn't? And you know everything is about to change but you can't stop yourself from letting the word vomit escape your lips?

Arizona was having one of those moments.

Everything seemed to be going really slowly as opposed to the past five minutes that just flew by. She could feel the chill in the apartment, see the look on Callie's face change from hurt to something challenging, she could smell the air and feel the pain and almost see the change that was about to occur.

"If you feel that way than maybe we should just break up." Callie challenged.

Arizona didn't agree with the words that slipped out of her lips, she hated them as she said them, and she hoped Callie would pretend that they had escaped her ears. "Maybe we should."

Callie nodded. "Okay."

Two hours later, Arizona couldn't even recall how she ended up outside her—well, Callie's—apartment with three suitcases and an ABBA record. It was ridiculous how everything escalated from something completely explainable to something completely stupid. She wasn't even sure what had happened, she just knew that when Callie mentioned the man-whore, she saw red.

She just knew she had to fix it. Arizona just knew it was a mistake.

She couldn't explain it but she knew deep down that this was the dumbest thing ever and that she need to suck in her pride and just go apologize. But unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to do it. So she just continued to stand outside Callie's apartment like a loser.

A loser with an ABBA record.

After another forty-five minutes of internal debate, Arizona finally sucked up her pride—along with everything else—and turned back around, entering Callie's apartment with a goal in mind. She wasn't going to let it end like this, she was Arizona freaking Robbins and she was better, cooler, and awesomer than this.

Arizona's thoughts were interrupted by a cry coming from the bathroom. "Damn it! Jesus Christ."

Arizona felt panic spread throughout her body and quickly forgot any thoughts involving how she shouldn't probably be trespassing. She ran into the bedroom, pushed past the empty looking room accessories, and quickly pressed her ear into the bathroom door. "What happened?"

"Go away, Arizona."

Arizona rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, Calliope. What happened?"

"I don't want to talk to you, I want…OW!"

Arizona shook the handle, her panic rising when she heard a soft sniffle through the wood door. She increased her efforts as the sniffles started to rise.

"Calliope? Calliope, are you okay? Baby, answer me."

Arizona held her breath; waiting for Callie to respond apparently required her to hold in her oxygen. Arizona had to strain her ears just to catch a whisper of the mumble Callie released.

She released the puff of air out of her cheeks and decided to try again. Arizona shook the handle to no avail, it was still locked. "Baby, you're gonna have to open the door. I can't hear you. Please, just open the door."

Finally, Arizona heard some shuffling before a tiny click, and she turned the handle, slowly pushing the door open as she walked in.

The rational part of her brain, the doctor part, knew that Callie couldn't be all that hurt if she was still able to speak and perform basic motor/mobile movements. But the bigger, over-protective, more susceptible to imagine horrifying sequences part of her was going into over-drive and all Arizona wanted to do was protect Callie. Protect her from whatever the hell happened and just…just hug the shit out of her.

Arizona approached Callie very slowly. Callie was hunched over on the toilet seat, her hands covering her ears and her eyes screwed shut as tears slowly rolled down her ace. Since their argument she had successfully changed from her dress into a black tank top but hadn't so successfully changed into something other than her short booty shorts. Arizona would have come up with a better, more dignified name than that, but all she could think was booty shorts.

Arizona pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind, at least till later, and tried focusing on the task at hand. She made sure to quietly make her way in front of Callie before crouching down when she was sure that she was close enough. She placed both her hands on Callie's knees and started gently massaging. All she really wanted was for Callie to open her eyes and talk to her, this situation was getting far too out of hand.

"Calliope, what's wrong?"

The fact that Callie wasn't kicking her out was reassuring. It showed Arizona that maybe Callie was regretting her rash decision as much as Arizona was. It was something and Arizona was going to hold on to that something for dear life.

Callie opened her eyes, her facial features defeated as she tried not to meet Arizona's gaze. Her focus shifted back and forth between the hand towels behind Arizona's head and the roof.

"I…I got a Q-tip stuck in my ear."

It took fifteen minutes for Arizona to stop laughing. Ten of those said minutes being spent with Callie smacking her and the other five spent with her receiving an icy glare. At least the tension in the room was gone.

When Arizona could finally get her giggling under control she made Callie turn her head to the right so she could get a good look at her left ear. Callie did indeed have a Q-tip stuck, fortunately all Arizona needed was a pair of tweezers and some rubbing alcohol, for everything to be good as new.

Arizona dabbed the towel that she had just dipped in alcohol around Callie's ear. She gently pushed pulled her ear as silence settled over them, instead choosing to concentrate on making sure she pulled the whole thing out.

She placed the tweezers next to the end of the Q-tip and began the slow process of pulling it out, ignoring the hisses of protest coming from Callie. It was better if she just did it all at once instead of drawing it out, the chance of infection would increase, and the swelling might make it damn near impossible for anyone to pull it out.

With one final tug, Arizona pulled out the end of the Q-tip, completely satisfied with her work. She glanced down and watched as Callie's face became relieved. Arizona felt a grin tugging her lips and couldn't help but let a giggle escape her mouth.

Callie's eyes shot open and she glared angrily. "I was upset and I wasn't paying attention. It was out of anger!"

Arizona nodded comfortingly and tried to quell the new burst of giggles that threatened to pour out. She made sure to put everything away before turning her attention back to the girl sitting on the toilet seat.

Callie sighed and whispered, "Where's your stuff?"

"It's all in the living room."

Callie nodded. "Even the ABBA record?"

"Especially the ABBA record," Arizona answered with a laugh.

Another silence settled between them and all Arizona could hear was the tick of the clock hanging next to the bathroom door. She started counting the tick of each second, hoping it'd make the time go by faster, but after thirty-two she just decided to give up and focus on Callie. When the silence became too unbearable—which it often did—Arizona had to fill it with her voice.

"I'm so—"Arizona began.

"—rry." Callie finished.

They both looked at each other briefly before laughing.

"I really am sorry, Arizona. It was a stupid fight." Callie stated.

Arizona couldn't help the feeling of joy that erupted inside of her. She had to keep herself from busting out into song from sheer joy and happiness.

Arizona glanced at Callie and smiled. "You know I would never do anything that would hurt you, not intentionally."

"I know."

"You know that it was stupid for us to fight over something I should have just told you about from the beginning." Arizona said as she walked in front of Callie.

Callie looked up to meet Arizona's gaze. "I know."

Arizona squatted so that she was sitting in front of her. "You know that I kinda sorta want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Callie's gaze widened as a small smile crept across her lips. "I know."

Arizona sighed and leaned into Callie's body. "What do you say we just go to sleep and argue this out tomorrow?"

"I'm game." Callie whispered, placing her arms around Arizona's waist. "As long as Joanne isn't invited."

Arizona laughed. It wasn't perfect, what her and Calliope had, and truth be told that on most days it didn't even make sense to her. They bickered over dumb things, the sense of doom enveloped their relationship very early on, and they have a lot of issues that they both need to face. But Arizona liked to believe that none of it really mattered because even if they fought over the dumbest things, they still had a chance at a happy ending.

A sad ending may be realistic, raw, and expected. But, happy endings were beautiful because of the majestic qualities they possess. Happiness is eternal and Arizona liked to believe that Callie and she have a real shot at it.

Arizona tugged at Callie and led her towards the bed that she had almost not slept in. She slid under the covers after Callie had taken her place and quickly felt Callie's body mold to Arizona's.

"Calliope?" Arizona whispered, preventing Callie from drifting off into sleep.

"Hmm?" Callie murmured, her eyes trying to stay open.

"Who the hell gets a Q-tip stuck in their ear?"

It only took two hours and a loss of all clothing for Callie to show Arizona exactly who gets a Q-tip stuck in their ear.


End file.
